Essay On Western Culture

This essay shall undertake a critical evaluation of the changes Western culture has had on Muslim woman in Morocco and how it has impacted their cultural norms. This shall be achieved by examining the changes in the areas of health, marital life, and education. Consideration shall be given to traditional Muslim life in Morocco and the changes that have been experienced in this country, before examining what may be described as a toxic infestation of Western culture and its effects and a conclusion reached.

Historically, before Muslim women in Morocco experienced a cultural transformation and succumbed to the influences of Western culture, they lived their lives in very traditional Muslim ways and were perceived as wives and mothers. Muslim women traditionally married young, they did not receive much in terms of an education, and were expected to accommodate two types of work, domestic and reproduction (Sadiqi and Ennaji 2006 p.91). The former is learned in childhood and the latter acquired through education and training (Sadiqi and Ennaji 2006). Whereas economic provision is the responsibility of men, women were expected to marry and reproduce to earn status (Ahmed 1992). Men, unlike women, also had the unilateral right to divorce, whereas a woman could work and travel only with the written permission of her male guardian, family honour and good reputation (Ahmed 1992).

Muslim societies are characterized by higher than average fertility, higher than average mortality, and rapid rates of population growth. As recently as the late 1980s, an average of 34 per cent of all brides in Muslim countries were under twenty years of age, and women in Muslim countries bore an average of six children (Moghadam 2005 p.4). There is also ...

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...g commodified, something that is a principal characteristic of Western culture. From this it may be seen that Western culture is permeating Morocco at many levels, despite its Islamic traditions. It may be argued that Morocco's western location in North Africa and its proximity to Europe is a significant factor that has allowed Western culture to permeate its own cultural fabric and that this pattern shall continue to develop exponentially. Western culture has affected women’s cultural norms, transforming cultural and social expectations in what many perceive at best as a dominant force for cultural change and personal freedom, and at worst the inexorable destruction of the traditional cultural and social order as modern Western consumerist culture continues its polluting journey, and time honoured traditions give way to the inevitable rise of Western materialism